Scientific Linux Security Update : kernel on SL5.x i386/x86_64

The remote Scientific Linux host is missing one or more security
updates.

Description :

These updated packages fix the following security issues :

- the absence of a protection mechanism when attempting to
access a critical section of code has been found in the
Linux kernel open file descriptors control mechanism,
fcntl. This could allow a local unprivileged user to
simultaneously execute code, which would otherwise be
protected against parallel execution. As well, a race
condition when handling locks in the Linux kernel fcntl
functionality, may have allowed a process belonging to a
local unprivileged user to gain re-ordered access to the
descriptor table. (CVE-2008-1669, Important)

- a possible hypervisor panic was found in the Linux
kernel. A privileged user of a fully virtualized guest
could initiate a stress-test File Transfer Protocol
(FTP) transfer between the guest and the hypervisor,
possibly leading to hypervisor panic. (CVE-2008-1619,
Important)

- the absence of a protection mechanism when attempting to
access a critical section of code, as well as a race
condition, have been found in the Linux kernel file
system event notifier, dnotify. This could allow a local
unprivileged user to get inconsistent data, or to send
arbitrary signals to arbitrary system processes.
(CVE-2008-1375, Important)

- when accessing kernel memory locations, certain Linux
kernel drivers registering a fault handler did not
perform required range checks. A local unprivileged user
could use this flaw to gain read or write access to
arbitrary kernel memory, or possibly cause a kernel
crash. (CVE-2008-0007, Important)

- the absence of sanity-checks was found in the hypervisor
block backend driver, when running 32-bit
paravirtualized guests on a 64-bit host. The number of
blocks to be processed per one request from guest to
host, or vice-versa, was not checked for its maximum
value, which could have allowed a local privileged user
of the guest operating system to cause a denial of
service. (CVE-2007-5498, Important)

- it was discovered that the Linux kernel handled string
operations in the opposite way to the GNU Compiler
Collection (GCC). This could allow a local unprivileged
user to cause memory corruption. (CVE-2008-1367, Low)

- a NULL pointer dereference in NFS, which may have caused
applications to crash, has been resolved.

- when attempting to kexec reboot, either manually or via
a panic-triggered kdump, the Unisys ES7000/one hanged
after rebooting in the new kernel, after printing the
'Memory: 32839688k/33685504k available' line.

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